Preharvest Herbicide Treatment Improves Regeneration in Southern Appalachian Hardwoods

Preharvest herbicide treatment of undesirable and unmerchantable v getation was compared to postharvest felling. Ten years after the clearcut harvesting, the preharvest treatment had increased the number and proportion of desirable stems and decreased the number and proportion of undesirable sprouts in the dominant stand. Stands that developed after the preharvest herb•cide treatment are dominated by single-stemmed d sirable species, and excellent future stocking isassured. Because of the presence of undesirable sprout clumps, plots receiving the postharvest felling have an uncertain future. An effective preharvest treatment that costs about he same as postharvest felling is recommended. Clearcutting has become th method f choice for natural regeneration of southern Appalachian hardwoods. After the merchantable stand is removed, all or most of the residual unmerchantable stems are felled. The resulting natural regeneration is a combination of seedlings, advance reproduction, and stump sprouts (Beck 1980). While regeneration has usually been acceptable, postharvest felling of residual unmerchantable stems •s not without problems. Logging slash makes traversing the often steep topography difficult. Furthermore, when undesirable species are cut they usually sprout prolifically, and these sprouts can displace stems of more desirable species (McGee and Hooper 1970). These problems can be avoided by treating unmerchantable stems prior to harvest with herbicides. This paper presents the results of two studies comparing postharvest felling of unmerchantable stems with preharvest herbicide treatment.